Corset stay or stiffener.



No. 645,444. Patented Mar. I3, 1900.

J. P.- F. WHITE & S. S. RIDER.

CORSET STAY 0R STIFFENER.

(Application filed June 10, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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fink-meme: @7270 I? UNITED- STATES JOHN P. F. WHITE AND SAMUEL S. RIDER, OF \VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

CORSET STAY OR STIFFENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 645,444, dated March 13, 1900.

Application filed June 10,1899.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN P. F. THITE and SAMUEL S. RIDER, citizens of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corset Stays or Stiffeners; and we do hereby declare the fol-. lowing to.be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to stays or stiffeners for corsets, garments, and the like, and has for its object to provide a strong, durable, and inexpensive stay or stiffener that is capable of yielding or being flexed in every direction and at the same time possessing sufficient rigidity or stiffness to cause the garment to set or lay smoothly and gracefully or to support the person of the wearer and which may be readily applied and secured in place.

To these ends our invention consists in a garment stay or stiffener constructed in'the manner hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims following the description, reference being had to the ac- 'companying drawings, forming a part of this specification, wherein Figure 1 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of a garment stay'or stilfener constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is an end view thereof. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal central sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of'Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan view of one manner of constructing the stay or stiffener. Fig. 5 is alongitudinal central sectional view taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 4;. Figs. 6 and 7 are end views of a slightly-modified form of the stay or stiffener, and Fig. 8 is a plan view showing a complete stay or stiffener.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a continuous length of wire bent to form a series of approximatelyflat elliptical or oval-shaped loops or con volutions 2, the edge 3 of each loopor convolution overlapping the edge of the adjacent loop or convolution on the one side and itself being overlapped on the opposite edge 4: by the adjacent loop or convolution on the other side. After the loops or convolutions have been formed in the manner described the stay or Serial No. 720,048. on model.)

stiffener is bent longitudinally between its edges, thereby giving to said stay or stiffener a concavo convex shape in cross section, whereby the lapped edges of the convolutions 5 5 are brought into close and intimate frictional contact, so that in order to flex the stay edgewise or to one side or the other in the plane in which the stay lies will require sufficient force to overcome not only the resiliency of the wire, but also the resistance offered by the frictional contact of the convolutions, by which the stay or stiffener is rendered sufficiently stiff or rigid to properly support the person of the wearer or cause the garment to set or lie evenly, smoothly, and gracefully on the figure, while at the same time it is'sufficiently pliant or flexible in every direction to yield and accommodate itself to the movements of the wearer. 7

The stay or stiffener may be conveniently made by first forming the wire into a coiled spring, then pressing the coiled spring between plates, dies, or rollers to flatten the convolutions into flat loops overlapping each other in the manner described, and finally bending longitudinally the stay or stifiener thus formed between its edges by any suitable or preferred means, as by pressure be tween dies or by passing it longitudinally between die-rolls, for example. It will be evi dent, however, that the stay or stiffener may be made by bending or coiling-as, for example, in a Wire-bending machineand we Wish it to be understood that the method of making it forms no part of the present invention.

The stay or stiffener is especially useful when employed in connection with corsets, as it will not only yield in every direction to accommodate itself to every flexure of the 0 body, but at the same time, owing to its corrugated shape in cross-section, possesses suf ficient rigidity or stiffness to properly support the person of the wearer.

Insomeinstancesitisdesirablethatportions 5 of the stay or stiffener shall possess great flexibility or shall freely yield in every direction, while other portions thereof shall be stiffer or be more rigid, and in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings we have illustrated a portion of a Ioo stay or stiffener possessing such character istics. Referring to said figures, the numeral 5 indicates portions of a stay or stiffener comprising fiat loops or convolutions overlapping one another in the manner described, but not bent between its edges, whereby such portions are rendered extremely yielding or flexible in every direction, while the numeral 6 indicates a portion of the stay or stiffener comprising flat overlappingloops or con volutions bent between its edges, by which said portion is rendered more stiff or rigid.

In Fig. 6 we have shown the stay or stiffener bent transversely between its edges at an obtuse angle, as at 7, as contradistinguished from a stay or stiffener segmentshaped in cross-section, and in Fig. 7is illustrated a stay or stiffener having a compound configuration in cross-sectionthat is to say, said stay or stiffen er is bent longitudinally on one side between its edges and its center, as at 8, and on its opposite side is bent in the reverse direction,as at 9. This last-described construction renders the stay or stiffener relatively very rigid or stiff, yet permits it to yield in every direction.

It is our practice to first form the stay or stiffener from a single piece of Wire in the manner described and then temper it in any well-known or preferred manner.

In all the forms described above the prin ciple of construction and operation is the same, each form comprising a series of approximately-overlapping loops or convolutions bent between the edges.

The stayor stiffener is readily secured in place by stitching, as the open loops or con volutions permit the needle and thread to be easily passed through the stay or stiffener at any point. while we have described the stay or stiffener as being especially applicable to corsets, it will be obvious that it may be applied to garments of every kind wherein such devices are useful and desirable.

lVe are aware that prior to our invention it was old to form a garment stay or stiffener by flattening out the convolutions of a coiled spring to form a series of overlapping loops; but it has been found in practice that stays or stiffeners formed in this manner were too flexible or yielding or, in other words, did not possess suflicient rigidity or stiffness, and the important feature of our invention therefore consists in bending such a stay or stiffener between its edges, whereby the necessary rigidity or stiffness is communicated to the stay or stiffener, while the latter is still permitted to yield or bend in every direction.

Having described our invention, what we claim is- V 1. A garment stay or stiffener formed from a single piece of wire capable of being flexed in all directions, and comprising a series of flattened'loops or convolutions overlapping one another, said stay or stiffener being bent longitudinally between its edges, whereby the said overlapped portions of the convolutions are brought into more intimate contact with each other and the stay or stifiener rendered more rigid, substantially as described.

2. A garment stiffener or stay formed from a single piece of wire and comprising a series of flattened loops or convolutions successively overlapping one another, said stay or stiffener for a portion of its length only being bent longitudinally from edge to edge, whereby the lapped portions of the bent convolutions are placed in intimate frictional contact with one another and the stay or stifiener rendered more rigid, substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN P. F. WHITE. SAML. S. RIDER.

Witnesses:

ROBERT KREITER, L. S. MoNEAL. 

